Last week I left the 30ºC heat of Lisbon for the almost sub-zero temperatures of Krakow, and made premature use of my winter gear. But the cold was not enough to deter me from attending […]
Month: October 2011
Desmond O’Neill: Death and the composer: Thanatos as muse?
Even though my clinical life is enmeshed with an active arts and health programme with music in pole position –a composer in residence in the Stroke Unit and a hospital […]
Richard Smith: “End of the world” and the under 40s
The BMJ meeting on climate change keeps reverberating through my mind, and the apocalyptic feel of the meeting was deeply unsettling. Is the end of the world nigh? And what […]
Martin McShane: Care and cure
We are coming up to the annual contracting round. This year it will be led by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). Last year GPs were involved in the difficult, detailed negotiations […]
Fran Baum: The conclusion of the Rio conference
The final day of the Rio conference was on Friday and the official declaration from the conference still doesn’t deal with the underlying factors that are driving health inequalities between and within countries. […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review – 24 October 2011
JAMA 19 Oct 2011 Vol 306 There are definite green shoots of recovery in this week’s JAMA. Howard Bauchner hasn’t yet made the sweeping changes he’s promised, but there’s a […]
Domhnall MacAuley: The high metal fences at work
There are high metal fences around both my places of work, at the BMJ, there is a lovely commemorative ornamental railing. At our surgery, a security barrier. Two places far […]
Babatunde Osotimehin: Helping families in the Horn of Africa to make better choices
I was pleased to learn that Hawa Ali, a 27 year old woman whom I met at a maternity shelter in Garissa, in Northern Kenya, recently delivered triplets. Hawa had […]
Fran Baum on the alternative Rio declaration
60 health ministers and 1000 participants from around the world are attending the Rio Conference. Wednesday afternoon was a plenary session which featured contributions from a panel of speakers. Margaret […]
Richard Smith: Climate change, torturers, Nero, and me
“We know what we need to do to avoid severe climate change. We know how to get it done. We have the technology, and we can afford it. But we […]